The sage said, “The best thing is not to hate anyone, only to love. That is the only way out of it. As soon as you have forgiven those whom you hate, you have gotten rid of them. Then you have no reason to hate them; you just forget. Spiritual Dimensions of Psychology.

In a small affair or in a big affair, first consult yourself and find out if there is any conflict in your own being about anything you want to do. And when you find no conflict there, then feel sure that a path is already made for you. You have but to open your eyes and take a step forward, and the other step will be led by God.

Life

Birth: Hazrat Inayat Khan was born on July 5, 1882 into a princely Muslim Indian family (he was a great-grandson of Tipu Sultan, the famous eighteenth century ruler of Mysore).

Realization: Hazrat Inayat Khan would listen to the evening prayers sung in his household with great interest, and was impressed with the spiritual atmosphere produced by the chanting. From a young age, he was interested in going beyond thinking about religious issues. He wanted a direct “link with God”. Although Inayat Khan was initiated into the Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyya and Naqshbandi orders of Sufism, his primary initiation was in the Nizamiyya subbranch of the Chishti Order by Shaykh Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani. In 1922, during a summer school, Inayat Khan had a ‘spiritual experience’ in the South Dunes in Katwijk. He immediately told his students to meditate and proclaimed the place where he was on that moment holy.

Death: Hazrat Inayat Khan died on February 5, 1927.

Teaching Style: He traveled as a teacher of Sufism, visiting over three continents. He began to travel and lecture first in the United States and later in Europe. He traveled widely between 1910 and 1920. He decided to do more intensive teaching during the summer in France, and took up residence there near Paris in Suresnes where he could hold his “summer schools”. He had established his school in France.

Fame: Hazrat Inayat Khan was the founder of Universal Sufism and the Sufi Order International. His universal message of Divine Unity – Tawhid – focused on the themes of “Love, Harmony and Beauty”. He developed the Universal Worship service that is now associated with the “Sufi Order in the West. One goal of the Universal Worship service is to show people from different cultures the many common elements they share in their religious traditions, and to create a sense of unity among people from different cultures by teaching them to read each other’s scriptures and “pray each other’s prayers”.

Legacy: Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Sufi universalism, or interest in and respect for different religions is reflected in a saying by the thirteenth century Andalusian Sufi teacher Ibn ‘Arabi. Hazrat Inayat Khan’s grandfather was a well-known musician respected as a composer, performer, and developer of a musical annotation which combined a group of diverse musical languages into one simplified integrated notation. Hazrat Inayat Khan left behind a rich legacy of English literature infused with his vision of the unity of religious ideals, which calls humanity to awaken to the “Truth of Divine Guidance and Love”.

Teachings

His teaching strongly emphasized the fundamental oneness of all religions.
He wrote that a person deeply involved in the spiritual life could go to church, mosque, or temple and act in harmony with their fellow religious seekers though their paths might inwardly be very different.

According to him hell is a place that the living visit in dreams, and the dead experience when their consciousness lives on to reap the results of their negative actions in life.

Hazrat Inayat Khan’s decisive emphasis upon Spiritual Liberty in his teachings He taught that blind adherence to any book rendered any religion void of spirit, regardless of its external nature.

Hazrat Inayat Khan set forth ten thoughts that form the foundational principles of Universal Sufism:

There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save He. … (alternative, source unknown) There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save God.

There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, Who constantly leads all followers toward the Light.

There is One Holy Book, the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only Scripture that can enlighten the reader.

There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction toward the Ideal, which fulfills the life’s purpose of every soul.

There is One Law, the Law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience, together with a sense of awakened justice.

There is One Brotherhood, the human brotherhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. … (later adapted by followers) There is one Family, the Human Family, which unites the Children of Earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.

There is One Moral, the Love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence. … (alternative, source unknown) There is one Moral Principle, the Love which springs forth from a willing heart, surrendered in service to God and Humanity, and which blooms in deeds of beneficence.

There is One Object of Praise, the Beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.

There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of Wisdom.

There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection. … (alternative, source unknown) There is One Path, the effacement of the limited self in the Unlimited, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all Perfection.

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